Bus Window Was Obstructed in Crash

A school bus the Lake County sheriff was driving when he was killed during a charity race had its windshield covered in paint and should not have been on the track, a fellow race participant said.

The covered glass may have been the reason Chris Daniels left the bus' door open, retired Lake County Sheriff Noel Griffin said in an interview with the Florida Highway Patrol released Tuesday.

"His windshield was painted and the driver's side seemed to have been scraped with a razor blade," Griffin said.

Daniels, 47, was thrown from his bus Oct. 14 during the "Battle of the Badges" at New Smyrna Speedway during an event to raise money for Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches. He was run over by his own bus, and then the bus driven by Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger. Daniels died on scene, and an autopsy revealed he died from blunt force trauma to the head, chest and abdomen.